B I N G O !!!

Just WOW ... another month has flown by as fast as me eating an ice cream cone.  It's already the end of July, speeding right down the track into August.  Too bad it isn't a little bit cooler, or I'd be out on the road with the kids.  

Lucky for my electric bill, the nights are still relatively cool enough I can open the doors and windows.  Not at night of course ... too many porch pirates creeping around not far from here ... but in the mornings, we are cool as a cucumber.

I spent the morning with the gardener who didn't have a very good day with his tools.  I actually have a huge front and back yard that requires big equipment to take on the jungle, and that doesn't include the flowerbeds.  I spent a couple hours weeding them since they were completely covered with that flat spreading stuff, whatever it is.  

At last I was headed off to the Magic Castle.  At least there were a few smiling faces and the AC was turned up high.  I started out by signing 50 checks for various things from maintenance bills to charitable donations.  I like that part of the job.  

I spent the next hour shooting the bull with the accountant and the secretary.  SO much stuff going on with this organization!  The best news however is that a diagnosis has finally come in on a husband (I won't name him) who has been in the hospital.  

He has Valley Fever.  You may not have heard of it.  It's spores in the ground that can be breathed into your lungs and set up housekeeping, making it very difficult to breathe ... and it's hard to diagnose.  I mean really, it's one of the things I would check FIRST ... but the doctors here are not the best in the land.  

Interestingly enough, they just tore up and completely redid the road by their house.  We figure that stirred up the dinosaur spores and he happened to be the one who breathed them in.  So far, no one else on that road has acquired it.  Lots of heavy drugs over a period of time, and he will be fine.  Weird stuff.

And then it was BINGO TIME.  The cash-back machine got a good workout on this night.  Two ladies wanted $500 cash back ... not kidding ... that they would then use to buy pull tabs, in the hopes of winning the $1199 pot.  It just amazes me every week because they do that EVERY WEEK.  

You've seen this before .... but on this occasion someone got a little too close and someone ELSE marked her cards when she wasn't looking.  Like kindergarten kids, they were separated by the Knights and both forced to sit in the NON-lucky chairs far apart.  

All went well for awhile until I began to get folks wanting refunds on some of their cards.  Ummmm why?  The excuses went from "oh they call those too fast" (well why did you buy it then) to "I'm not lucky at that game" (so why did you buy it?).  Come to find out, all they wanted was more money to buy pull tabs.   That was evidenced by the plethora of change I had to count at nights end.  No kidding ... we were down to PENNIES last night.  They literally spend their last pennies on Bingo.

There was lots of discussion about our speed bingo cards that are being discontinued.  That's two games we have to replace with something else.  So far, we haven't been able to figure anything out other than to buy something with two or three cards together, then cut them apart.  So .... anyone want to volunteer to do that?

Thats when I heard the scream so loud I jumped in my seat!  Some guy who sits in our small anteroom off to the side won $250 (after buying $106 worth of cards) and he let everyone know!  It was ear splitting!!

For the most part, everyone kept their pitchforks under the table on this night.  I think they were on their good behavior because we had TEN visiting water polo Moms from out of town who had never played bingo before.  How they heard about us, I've no idea.    

They were a kick in the pants and made us all laugh.  Folks like that make Bingo worth every flaming torch.  

And so ended another night of collecting money for charity.  The infernal machine didn't give me any trouble at all ... a miracle for which I was vocally thankful.

I would love to tell you what's on the schedule for today, but at this point I have no idea.  I'm tired from another night of no sleep (the snoring puppy next to me this time) and my brain is in neutral.  

It's a two cup morning!!

NAILED IT!!

 There comes a time in every RV'ers life when you have to dump the dump.  I admit, it is the least fun part of being on the road.  When you only have a 12 gallon black tank, you have to do it a little more often.  Therefore my mantra ... use someone else's facilities before using your own.

It's quite easy don't you know ... just hook up the hose and pull the handle.  First times however, can be daunting, especially when the outlet is 8 inches from the concrete and your run is about 20 feet.  Oh yes ... see that tiny black dot by the wall?  That's my dump.  Why in the world they put it in such an inaccessible place is beyond me.

But first ... let's add a couple more buckets of water and drive around the block a few times.  I was pretty shocked at the LOUD sloshing noises.  Yikes!!!!

There are no pictures of this operation since it's really not something you want to see.  It's a good thing I kept all those long hoses from my big rig, not that I needed ALL of them.  It's funny how you can't stretch them far until you begin to dump, whereupon you end up with 40 feet of hose snaking around the bushes.    NAILED IT!!

A fancy handled gadget is NOT what I have, though I might have been able to use the stretchy thing you can lay the hose on.  MIGHT ... if the outlet was a little higher off the ground.

Obviously not my rig ... but again, not really something you want to see.  The hard part was trying to get the hoses to empty.  Know what I mean?  Yes, you know what I mean.  Over and over again I lifted a section, only to have it fill up again.  There MUST be an easier way.  For SURE next time I will only use three sections.  Maybe a board or something in between to try and keep it somewhat level instead of uphill.  

Finally the grey tank, though it had little in it.  I've become an expert at collecting water in the kitchen sink and emptying it by the nearest tree, even though it says the grey water tank is 35 gallons.  Good grief ... the fresh water tank is only 24!!!  

At any rate, it was finally a done deal and I didn't spill a drop!!

On to the next lovely job around the house .... the weeds are having a field day in the heat.  Time for a little spraying.  I swear, I have not yet learned my lesson about being in my back yard.  WEAR YOUR COWBOY BOOTS.  

I had on sandals as I stopped for a second to spray a little extra around a sprinkler.  Yes, I know they live there because of the water.  You just can't SEE them.  In a nanosecond my sandaled foot was covered in ANTS that I could not feel until they began to bite.  OMG!!!  I danced around like I was in the River Dance show.

The same foot as last time now has six more bites on it!!!  I sprayed them with weed killer, which they didn't seem to like and I RAN LIKE THE WIND!!!  Back in the house I grabbed a kitchen scrubby and went to town on my foot.  Better to scrape all the skin off than to have it itch madly for the next two weeks.  Yes it hurts, but it's the only solution I know of.

Now limping around the house with my foot bandaged, I went back to my quilt.  This became the problem of the day.  I cut the inner border per the SECOND set of instructions.  I was short one strip.  I called the store and they said they would send me a 2" piece.  That's all ... just a 2" strip.  I sewed on the strips that I had.

Then I get a phone call that they are NOT sending me anything, that I should have enough fabric.  They said the PATTERN was wrong and they had corrected it yet AGAIN (that makes three times).  Well if the PATTERN is wrong, why did you not give me the corrected one when I bought the kit?  Basically they said too bad.  My only recourse was to grab all the little pieces out of the trash and sew them together in order to finish the border.  I spent over $300 there and you can't send me 2" of fabric?

So now, on to the outside border and the backing.  Since NEITHER of the two instructions sheets I have are correct, I'm now wondering if I have enough to finish it.  You know "madder than a wet hen"?  

Even though they KNEW the pattern had been corrected (actually the quilt made much smaller), they sold me 7-1/2 yards of backing material when it only required 5 yards according to the NEW corrected pattern.  Yeah, Nancy won't be buying anything from them ever again, not that they care.  In all my years of quilting, I've never run across a shop like this one.

Dinner was a complete disaster.  Typical for me.  Remember, I try these recipes so you don't have to.  This is a fabulous cauliflower smothered in cheese.  NAILED IT!!  

They said it was the best thing EVER and they would never eat cauliflower any other way.  Lies .... all lies!!

I par cooked it, smothered it in mayo, cheese and spices, then broiled it.  Oh I ate it ... waste not, want not ...  But I guarantee I won't be making it again.  

I KNEW I should have gone for the chicken pot pie!!!

And so ended another "sort of" cool day.  We are edging up a little every day to a week of 104-105.  I cringe every time I turn the AC on.  

So ..... let's see what trouble we can get into!!  After all, it's BINGO NIGHT!!!!!

Witchcraft and Walmart

 Gosh ... it was wonderful while it lasted.  The Weather Gods are stirring the pot once again as we head back up to 104 and 105 for the next long week.  I better plan two more long outings in the van.  Being gone lets my solar catch up with my AC bill.  

Just for giggles, I thought I would show you the psychedelic tablescape once more.  Listen closely.  No, that wasn't me.  I laughed while she downed a third shot!!  Oh the headache!!

Still feeling MUCH under the weather ... I don't know how folks went back for seconds ... I figured maybe some exercise would help.  It's a big plus to go grocery shopping when you feel like crap because you don't buy much.

Here we are at the Grocery Outlet ... recently instituted in our little town.  I had my doubts since I drive by here often and the parking lot is always empty.  Right off the bat I was confronted with an entire wall of toothpaste, shampoo, sheets and vitamins.  I headed back to the veggies and around the corner to dog food.  Hmmmm not much here OR there.

Mostly I was checking out the prices.  As the lady next to me said ... It's cheaper at Walmart!!  And right she was.  The Taylor salad was $3.59, expires in two days, and the Italian bread was $4.59 for half a loaf.  There were a couple of finds ... the English muffins for $2.49 ... the Cool Whip for 69 cents each.  The green onions were awful,  but I needed a few and the ICE CREAM ... a whopping $7.99 ... the same as I pay at my regular store.

I checked the dates on everything and except for the salad, they are all good.  I probably could have gotten everything at Walmart for less money.  Chalk this store off my list.  Oh ... and the hamburger was $10.00 a pound.  No wonder the parking lot is empty.

Back home after enjoying a nice creamy cold ice cream bar, I hit the ground running with this quilt.  So simple to sew just squares.  I call it a quilt-in-a-day quilt.  Sadly, when I cut the first border, I discovered they gave me 15" of fabric when 16" was required.  That brought it all to a screeching halt.

Thankfully when I called the shop, they were very apologetic about it and will send me ONE more 2" wide strip so I can continue on.  The plan for this one is to quilt every square separately instead of doing one design over the entire thing.

While my stomach is still healing up ... (ugh ... I'll never overeat again) I went on to the next Halloween quilt.  That's when I noticed it.  Down at the very bottom are Bible verses.  What????  All of the verses warn against engaging in witchcraft or casting spells.  YIKES!!!  I just thought it was a cute Halloween quilt!!

In between sewing we watched the Cheyenne rodeo finals, though Cooper wasn't all that interested.  We also slept for a bit ... including Jonathan.  

The evening was spent on the phone with friend Renate, who is on her way to Hyder Alaska to see the grizzlies.  I didn't have the heart to tell her that big storms have washed the salmon out of the river for a time and the bears won't be there.  Hopefully they return soon enough.

In the meantime, I learned enough on MY trip to help her with HERS.  It's the air conditioning of course, though she's thrilled with the battery operated fan I recommended, as recommended to me by Miss Terry.

Since I used to spent 7-8 months on the road every year in the Pacific Northwest ... and Renate loves that area too ... we are "sort of" planning a trip in a few months.  We will see how that goes.

In the meantime, I'll not be doing any witchcraft or casting spells, but you will probably see me at Walmart looking for deals.  Who EVER thought I would be shopping at my least favorite store!!!

Mexican Candy At A Luau

 I'm back in Heaven.  It is an almost COLD 59 degrees this morning.  I again turned on all my fans to bring in the COOL.  I need it this morning!!

There was stuff going on yesterday, but at this moment I can't remember much.  No, it's not the alcohol in this lovely blue glass, it was the food that got me.  

IT'S A LUAU!!  Every year the Elks Lodge puts on several different gatherings I shall call them ... as always in an effort to keep the bills paid.  Since I'm not a purveyor of fine alcohol, I never go.  Then there's the part about having a table for 8 ... and I show up without a date.  

On this day however, they were rather short of folks wanting to party hardy.  I invited two friends and we were off to the races.  I cheated and had a drink made with little to no rum.  

This is a Komon-I-Wanna-Leia ... pineapple juice, rum and several other additives that I could not identify.

I admit, the flashing ice cube was a distraction.  No one said this would be a legit luau party.  It just gives you an idea of the food you are about to consume.

Before the party even got started, the other folks at the table began the shot party.  It was something called Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  No No No ..... not me!  I'm a party pooper when it comes to stuff like this.

I stuck with my rum-less now blue glass.  The flashing ice cube continued as long as it was cold and wet.  I brought it home!!  

At last dinner was served ... green salad, Hawaiian macaroni salad, huli huli chicken, mashed white sweet potatoes and a huge helping of pulled pork.  Add a roll for good measure.  Those sweet potatoes?  They were amazing, so I asked for the recipe.  Cooked and mashed with butter and cream.  I'm not kidding, I KNOW what's in that kitchen pantry and I KNOW how our food is prepared.  It just amazes me that every time, our crew comes up with such amazing meals.  

Nancy made a big pig of herself and ate every single bite, for which I am deeply sorry.  By the time I got home, I was so miserable, I did not sleep a wink ALL night.  Oh the pain of overeating!!!!

Then came the wine.  Okay, I admit, I took a few sips of a dark red something or other, but I am not a wine connoisseur either.  I took this picture just to show you the .99 cent glass with an elk sticker on it.  

MORE toasting ensued, this time Mexican Candy, while I fended off the glass put in front of me.  I'll take all the pictures you want, but I'm NOT drinking that one either.  I would end up on the floor!!!  The sweet lady on the left in blue told me it was okay ... she has fallen down several times and it doesn't hurt that much.

BAND TIME!!  Oh yeah, we go all out for these shindigs.  This is META 4, and believe it or not, in spite of their advanced age ... they were REALLY GOOD!!  Heck everyone in the room sang along with every song played.  No surprise after Pineapple Upside Down Cakes and Mexican Candy!!

Here's another HECK YEAH about these events ... everyone just gets up and dances whether they have a partner or not.  How fun is that!!  I did hear one comment about this being a Hawaiian Luau, but they were playing country and rock music.  No one cared!!!

And so I snuck out the door, miserable after having eaten WAY too much.  In fact, I was punished for my gluttony all night long.  Poor Cooper didn't sleep a wink either with me writhing in agony!!  And so today you will probably find me sleeping on the couch ... AND ... watching the Cheyenne Wyoming Rodeo Finals with my glass of Arizona Tea flashing bright colors from the fake ice cube.  

ALOHA!!

I See Chickens

Well HALLELUJAH!!!!!  The Weather Gods have finally chosen to surround us in COOL.  It's a lovely 64 degrees this morning.  I'm opening all my doors and windows with gusto!!!  Gosh does that feel good!!

It was also quite nice that my AC filters showed up.  Amazon told me there was a problem with my order of three days ago.  I immediately went back online and reordered the exact same thing.  They were delivered yesterday.  Makes you wonder.

So up on the very high in the sky ladder I went, hanging on like a spider on the wall.  Speaking of which, I should have taken a duster up with me to clear out the local population.  At any rate, I now have cool CLEANER air.  The other two have lower ceilings, so it's not so much of a deal to change them out.

Don't you just love it when you get packages?  This one came all the way from Texas and was three days early.  It is a big roll of batting for the quilts I make.  By the way, it's always good to shop prices.  This is the exact same thing Amazon sells from the exact same seller ... but if you order it direct, you get a better price than Amazon gives you.   It always pays to shop around.

Here's my next quilt ... here chicky chicky chicky!!  I LOVE IT!!  Just kidding, I'm not making this one, but I think it's hilarious and would love to have it on a guest bed.  Maybe I can find the pattern!  

I completely gave up on outside endeavors.  It's just too stinking hot to do anything outdoors.  Even the local chickens aren't crowing in the mornings any more.  Instead, I locked myself in the sewing room until this was finished.  It's BIG, which is why it's on the floor.  Boy do I love this pattern!!  To make it even better, it's all made with leftover fabric.  I'm trying to hack my way through some of the stacks without buying more.

So what did I do?  I bought MORE.  This will be a cute cowboy quilt, straight from Utah.  You can't find anything like this around here.  The main reason I got this one is to practice my quilting skills in each square like Ray showed me.  And of course because it's COWBOY.

In the meantime, I've been looking for places to take the van.  The coast would be the best place since it's COOL over there.  Sadly, the only reservation I could find was $160.00 a night for full hookups.  YIKES!!  I thought maybe 50 or 60, but that is crazy.  Guess I won't be staying THERE!!!  I know prices of everything have gone up with inflation (which our current government is doing nothing about), but just WOW!!

So instead I will stay in my own little abode with Mr. Cooper and Jonathan, who both are just SO thankful to be home.  Jonathan loves his BIG house and Cooper loves NOT being on a leash the entire time.  Yes, I could have taken the leash off in Utah, but there is a 20' tall rock wall.  I was afraid with his bad eyesight that he would just walk right over the edge.  Yeah, I'm a smothering dog mom!!

When dinner rolled around, I was more than ready.  Watching the Cheyenne Rodeo all day makes a cowgirl hungry.  This was actually left over from the last Hello Fresh order.  

The red cabbage did not survive, so I snuck into Jon's stash of cole slaw.  There's a lot of quite salty pork underneath all that green, but otherwise quite tasty.  Not tasty enough to make it again however.  This recipe went in the trash.

It's another day in the armpit of California ... though I guess it's MY little piece of armpit.  I'll be outside this morning laying on the nice COLD concrete, soaking up all the cool I possibly can before watching the finals of the Cheyenne Rodeo.  

Cluck cluck ... maybe I'll look for that chicken pattern!!!

T - I - M - B - E - R !!!!!

 I'm late ... I'm late ... not for a very important date, just late getting up.  I spent a good deal of time outside in the heat yesterday, which just takes it out of me.

The good news is a tiny bit of cool has returned, to the tune of 72 degrees this morning instead of 81.  I turned the AC fans on and am pulling it in as fast as I can.  The next five days we should be in the mid to high 80's ... a nice respite from the energy sapping heat.

I finally made it to the mailbox.  Actually, I finally REMEMBERED the mailbox and went to see what ads I got this time.  Lo and behold, there were my license plates and the new manual for my rig.  I read through a bit of it, but mostly it said go find the manuals for that particular item.  Not a big help, but better than nothing.

Then the problem arose.  There's those weird screwdrivers once again.  I can't get the screws OUT of the license plate holder because I don't have the right tool.  I was sure I had one from my other rig, but it's playing hide and seek.  

And then the fun began.  This is the old dog kennel cover turned hay shed which needs to be removed.  Problem number uno was the lawn mower parked on the other side.  It belongs to my gardener who asked if he could leave it here since he didn't need it at any other location.  The key is in it he said ... move it if you need to.

Well ... there was NO key and it wasn't going to budge even one little inch.  I already called a friend/handyman to remove the shed, so the mower had to go.  The gardener came by, but could not find the key ANYWHERE.  He tried a rolling jack, but that didn't want to work on such a hot day either.  

I could feel the tension, so I just went in the house.  Better to just let men do their thing!!  Almost an hour later, it was moved.  How, I don't know and I didn't want to ask.  An hour after he left, he called to say he found the key in his clothes dryer.  OKAY THEN!!

NOW YOU SEE IT .......

NOW YOU DON'T ... kinda sorta.  Ralph came by and we discussed how it would come down.  He used a pry bar to remove the nails from the bottom of the posts holding it to the concrete, then sledge hammered out a couple of braces.  

We both began rocking it back and forth as hard as we could until it slowly crashed to the ground.  THEN came the hard part.  As much as I thought this was a cheesy little shed, it was built pretty sturdy.  I think it was 1:30 at this point and a lovely 103 degrees.  I suggested coming back at 7 am the next day.  Well you can imagine how THAT went over ... this is a MAN.  No offense to other men out there.

Once again, I made a beeline for the house.  I know when I'm in the way.  Twenty minutes later I came back outside and it was completely gone, stacked in his trailer.  I was shocked he got so much done in so little time.  To make it even better ... he refused any payment.  Come on Ralph ... you spent hours out here in the hot sun, and there will be dump fees.  I will feel bad if you don't let me pay you.  He said HE would feel bad if I did.  I threw some cash on the truck seat when he wasn't looking.  

So NOW the problem remains ... just exactly WHERE will I put the new cover.  The far side is too close to the property line.  The middle is perfect but will block the gate.  The closest side will block the walkway to the house.  Decisions ... decisions!

Dinner was easy ... my famous chicken salad.  Yeah, it's not famous at all, but I love it loaded with pecans, apples and cranberries.  And yes, that's a can of Costco chicken.  It was just too hot to cook.

And so ended a VERY productive day in the back yard.  Time to sit down and read that RV manual to figure out how to use the heater ... not that I need it NOW mind you!!!

Someone Give Mother Nature A Hot Flash Pill

 I'M MELTING .. I'M MELTING ...... not really, but it is stinking hot around here, causing me to turn up (or rather turn DOWN) the air conditioning.  WHAT?  She's actually going to use more electricity? 

Yes ... yes I am.  You know there has to be a good reason for that happening!  It's partly because it's again 82 degrees this morning and partly because I got my true up bill.  That is the difference between what my solar panels produced and what I used for the entire year.  Generally folks around here will owe about a thousand dollars.

It helps to be gone for a week or two.  My bill for July was a nice credit of $184.00.  That meant that my final bill for one entire year of electricity was ............. wait for it ............... MINUS $135.00.  WOOHOO!!    Of course I won't ever SEE that $135.00 credit because it will dissolve into thin air when they BUY BACK the electricity at 4 cents per KWH.  I think we pay something crazy like 50 cents per KWH.

I even turned the AC up yet again so I could sleep better last night.  Ahhhhh the cool is so refreshing!

The day started out nice enough ... I had a company come by and give me a bid on an RV cover.  It's pretty simple because the concrete is already there.  I have been stressing over making sure there was a gate into the corrals just in case.  In case of what, I don't know.

The "rules" say I need to be 10 feet from the property line, which is no problem, it just wastes a lot of space along the fence and covers up the gate.  The bid came in at half of what I expected in spite of upping the steel gauge.  BLAST the gate!!!  I'm going for it!!

With that done, it was back to ordinary house things.  The drip drip drip kept me up for at least 15 minutes last night, so I hit the ground running.  The faucets in this house are not cheap, but they sure don't last long. Been there, done that ... it's another cartridge that I'll have to order.

Speaking of orders ... I got on Amazon and ordered another round of gallon DEF bottles, along with some filters for the AC return.  What's up with Amazon?  This is the third time I've gotten a message the next day saying there was a "problem" with my order.  There will be no DEF or filters arriving at my door.  Why do they put stuff on their website if they can't get it?  

I had one filter left, so up it went.  I guess I will have to brave the heat and Home Depot to buy more filters.  I'm just spoiled by having things delivered to the door!

Time for some sustenance!  Can you smell it?  UMMMMM BACON!!!!  I picked it up on a quick run to Wally World for Jonathan food.  Oh for a nice big fat BLT sandwich.  Sadly, no tomatoes made it into my cart.  No worries though ... this stuff will disappear in egg McMuffins for breakfast.

Since it was too hot to go outside and I was finally a bit motivated to get back to sewing, I put the three sections of this together, along with the first border.  I just LOVE this pattern.  I should be able to get it finished up today and off my table.  My big quilt needs binding!

Okay, honestly, you KNOW that I will probably just get out the Cowboy Squares fabric I bought in SLC and begin work on it.  The sooner I finish it, the sooner I will get to practice my new quilting skills Ray taught me.

Dinner was just a salad since nothing else thawed out quickly enough.  Dessert however ... was quite tasty.  These little pastries came frozen in a bag from THAT store in SLC, so this is for Cindy.  I air fried them at 350 for 8 minutes.  They needed a little more time, but were quite tasty.  It makes you wonder if all the stuff in your neighborhood bakery actually comes to them FROZEN and they just bake it.  

I have one more shout out to KennyD.  I spotted your Applegate sign ... what a beautiful place you get to hang out in.  Sadly, I missed the turnoff for the burger and didn't stop.  I was so far behind schedule due to the road work that I just kept going.  I'm keeping that info however ... I'll make a point to stop next time!!

I hope everyone made it over the HUMP of hump day in spite of the weather.  There is one good thing about it ... it's too hot to eat much so dieting is a breeze.  I'll be on the couch with a nice cold glass of Arizona Tea!!!!

The Magic Land Of Bingo

 It's 82 degrees this morning at 4:30 ... not the kind of day I like to wake up to.  I'm pretty bleary eyed and could definitely use more sleep!

I thought it was weird that I kept having to turn the AC down more and more yesterday afternoon.  I'm usually comfortable at 80 degrees.  I think it was too much of that lovely air conditioned house in Salt Lake City that spoiled me.  

I spent most of the morning unloading the rig.  GEE ... only TWO wagon loads and a few extras.  That's one for the record books.  I'm liking this minimalist camping a lot!!  Even better, I like not having to cook!!  Those chicken pot pies are now my go-to!!!

Of course the house is a wreck, with stuff stacked all over everywhere.  It will have to wait.  It's time for the Magic Castle.

My Fairy Godmother waved her magic wand and VOILA!!  My station was ready to go.  She even made two huge bags of nuts appear out of nowhere.  Roasted almonds and walnuts for my baking pleasure.  You've got to love help like that!!

In no time we were off and running.  It was nice to have so many folks say they were glad I was back, even if some never missed me at all.  "You were gone???"  

It didn't take long however for the pitchforks to appear!!  Just like THAT I heard loud voices and bad words.  It seems someone got a little too close to the stack of bingo packets before their turn.  Oh the words did fly!!  

Ladies ....... please!!!  There was no stopping them.  The expletives got louder and louder as I tried to concentrate on the one in front of me.  I was waiting for the first punch to be thrown.  There was maybe two seconds when it was quiet ... and I thought it was over ... but NO.  Someone had to make just one more comment.  

The call went out for the Knights to come to the rescue.  I rang up the first one as fast as I could and off she went.  The second one kept up the rhetoric the entire time she was at the table.  Just STOP I said and pointed my finger, which never phased ANYONE before!  She was bigger than me, but I was closer to the exit if I had to run!!  

The Knights did their job well and I never heard from the ladies again.  Instead, I had two more come up and complain that someone was sharing cards.  That's a no-no ... and so the night went from one disgruntled player to another.  I think it was the heat, though it was so cold inside the building that folks went OUTSIDE to warm up.

The best part of all?  NO MORE RED TICKETS!!  Woohoo!!  No more counting out 130, tearing them in half, then tearing the tickets individually.  Many were disappointed, but Nancy was a happy camper, even though I kept reaching for the place in the cash register where they used to live.  

Here's two of our lovely Castle Decorators/Money Changers who work the other side of Bingo ... the pull tabs.  We had a little bit of a problem at the end of the night.  Someone won the $250 prize (there's one to every box sold) but never came to collect the money.  That's beyond weird!!  The money was saved in case they find that winning ticket on the way home.

The infernal machine was nice to me on this night, though the mini machine caused some problems.  Folks like our fee-free cash back option.  The problem with that is I run out of cash to make the payouts.  Sure enough ... this week I was $800 short.  No worries, I borrow from the two ladies above.  It all goes in the same pot anyway.

Otherwise, the infernal machine came out to the penny, in spite of over 60 dollars in change.  You can imagine just how happy the King was at having to count all THAT!!

I walked out the door at 9:30 and it was still 100 degrees.  I have to admit, I cannot remember when it was ever this hot all night long.  We must be edging towards the sun a little further.  In spite of the 85 degree forecast, we continue to be at 100 with 80 degree nights.  That doesn't bode well for my electric bill, though I do have some news about that.  I'll share tomorrow.

Keep cool if you can .....................

Hot Time In The Old Town

 God could you please turn the oven off?  We are cooked and the meat is falling off the bone.  Just give Mother Nature a kick in the patoo so we can be done with this.

Here I am parked in good old Winnemucca for the night.  It was a hot time in the old town on this day.  I again forgot the time change and landed a little early.  It did however, give me a chance to give the AC a good once over.

Like any AC unit, I set it on Auto.  That means it will turn off when it reaches the desired temperature, yes?  Not this one.  That just means it quits cooling while the fan keeps running at breakneck speed.  It took awhile, but I finally figured out if I set it on LOW fan, it would keep cooling nicely and at least quiet enough not to break my ear drums.  

Don't bother saying I should go have them give me instructions.  I already went through that and I knew more than the kid doing the walkthrough.  I tried reading the instructions, but they don't address that feature at all.  If anything however, I am STUBBORN as a mule ... and I WILL figure it out sooner or later.  At least we were comfortable the entire afternoon.

That's when the wind came up like crazy and it began to rain.  It was like being in my instant pot pressure cooker.

Nighttime was a different experience of trial and error.  YAY the bed went down!!!  That was a plus.  There was actually room for both Cooper AND me.  I finally opened the top fan, setting it on low where it made no noise whatsoever.  I added the quiet battery fan for a breeze.  It wasn't as quiet as advertised, nor was the fridge that ran all night long, but we did get a little bit of sleep.

And we are off into the wild blue yonder of Nevada.  I tried to wash the window for your viewing pleasure, but I couldn't reach.  A long handled brush is on my list.  In the meantime, you'll see lot of bug guts.  

Here we are finally coming into Fernley.  If you've ever wanted to watch paint dry, this is the place.  It's where Sherwin Williams tests out all their paints ..... outside.   

As I drove into Reno, things got a little dicey.  Traffic was pretty bad as I headed for fuel.  I really wanted to stop and rest a bit ... maybe have a bite to eat ... but it was STILL too hot.  I got fuel, let Mr. Cooper out for a minute and we were off once again ... once I put the key fob in it's magic hiding place yet again.

Sadly, we didn't get far.  Just around the corner I ran into this.  FOUR lanes of traffic .......

Down to ONE.  Can you imagine?  One of the busiest highways in California and they have BOTH sides under repair for miles and miles.  I got very well acquainted with a couple of truck drivers as we passed the time.

I mean what else is there to do when you're driving 3 mph for 20 miles.  At least it wasn't too hot for the AC to keep running.  It just made for a VERY long trip.

HEADS UP DAVE ... GO ANOTHER WAY OVER THE MOUNTAINS.  This is an awful mess not once, but TWICE before you get to the bottom.

No more pictures, since traffic was cray cray the rest of the way home.  And so we made it .... home sweet home .... to the hot Central Valley.  It was 102 when I landed, and only got hotter.  

I can tell you I had one happy little puppy when his feet hit the grass.  Cooper did his best impression of a race horse while I lugged stuff into the house.  

The last order of the day was to let my Bingo replacement know I was back.  She was pretty happy about that!!  The best news is I have hardly ANYTHING to unload out of the rig.  I think one wagon load should do it!!  This minimalist camping is pretty fun ... especially when trying to figure out how to do more with less!!

For now ... IT'S BINGO TIME!!